The same is true for proper wastewater management, which is a basic prerequisite for environmental health. Improving upon these services will bring economic gains while also helping to build resilience given increasing climate variability.

Many developing countries are already today struggling to cope with chronic water shortages and the inadequacies of their existing water infrastructure. They are also facing unprecedented population growth, rapid urbanization, and increased economic activity. Basic needs remain unmet, and the human right to water and sanitation remains unrealized for billions of people worldwide.

Against this background, global water security has risen on the international agenda. In fact, in 2012, a US Intelligence Community Assessment identified water-related problems in developing countries, such as increased risk of disease from unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation, as a threat to American interests. Just last year, the World Economic Forum identified water crises as the global systemic risk of third highest concern. Policies, institutions and infrastructure to improve drinking water sanitation, hygiene and wastewater management must be put in place today. Such actions will also build resilience to cope with the future impacts of climate change.

The world’s drinking water situation is improving. However, there is still cause for concern. In 2012, it was reported that the international community had reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target, to halve the proportion of people lacking access to safe drinking water, three years before the 2015 deadline. While this is a welcome achievement, there is an important caveat.

The proxy indicator used to measure progress towards this target is “access to an ‘improved’ drinking water source.” This indicator has limited meaning, since it does not represent a reliable measure of drinking water safety. In fact, a recent study commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF estimates that at minimum 1.8 billion people around the globe use fecally-contaminated drinking water. This is more than twice the official figure from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme of 748 million lacking access to an improved drinking water source.